Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Malilong: President's foul mood By Frank Malilong The Other Side
IRKED, Sun.Star Daily reported. She fumed, according to Cebu Daily News. Dismayed, the Freeman said. The President was in a foul mood.
This is the second time in less than a year that the famous (notorious?) presidential temper exploded while she was inspecting a public works project in Cebu. In both cases, it was Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane who was, and deservingly, too, at the receiving end.
I don’t know if that bridge in Canduman has finally been completed as promised by public works officials last year after they were reprimanded by Mrs. Arroyo. If it has, then there is reason to hope that the construction of the Cebu North Coastal Road would finally move faster than its current snail pace.
I find it disturbing, however, that the President’s men would move only after they are given a tongue-lashing. If a rank and file employee of a private company is required to possess the ability to work with minimum supervision before he is hired, shouldn’t that be the same, if not more so, with high-ranking public officials?
Talking about public works projects, have you noticed the sudden and frenetic road repair activity in the city lately? If you have, don’t be surprised. This is the time of the year that the city government launches its “Operation Asphalt Storm.”
This is one of the salutary effects of the Sinulog: a government trying to make an impression to its guests by making road travel a little less bumpy. Never mind if during the rest of the year, we have to bear with the potholes in our streets. We’re only locals, remember. Good roads are only for the guests.
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How can the Church lament the commercialization of the Sinulog celebration when her own hands are not completely clean? As it is, it is not only private business that is trying to cash in on the bonanza. Everything, it seems, is income-driven.
The mass is a holy sacrament, that is what we have been taught in catechism. So why are we selling commercial spots in the novena masses?
There are people who want the world to know that they are generous. Isn’t it the duty of the Church to teach them the grace to give without trying to let everyone know about it?
I thought that when you give to the Church, you are only returning a small part of what God has given you because you acknowledge that all that you are and all that you have come from Him. You give with a grateful heart. And when you do, it is not important that the others know because God knows.
I am therefore saddened by the Church’s practice of silently encouraging her flock to return a small part of what they are supposed to be holding in stewardship by something other than the promise of God’s love. Or is salvation for sale now?
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The critically acclaimed movie “Concerto (Davao War Diary)” will finally be shown in Cebu at the SM City Cinema 6 starting January 14. A special screening, sponsored by the UP Cebu Student Council and supported by Rep. Pablo John Garcia, will also be held at the same venue on January 17 at 2 p.m.
Directed by Paul Alexander Morales, the movie has been rated “A” by the Cinema Evaluation Board, which said that the independent film was comparable to Pepe Gallaga’s “Oro, Plata, Mata” and Eddie Romero’s “Ganito Kami Noon, Papaano Kayo Ngayon?” according to Viking Logarta, a former Cebu newsman who is the movie’s consulting producer.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has also endorsed “Concerto” for its technical excellence and its treatment of faith and family Logarta said.
